Time Doesn't Like Being Messed With
by Tay1019411
Summary: Alternate Masters of All Time* Danny manages to divert the blast from the portal away from his parents and Vlad. When he goes back to the present, he realizes he has changed more than just that moment. Now, Vlad is not only fully human but also a crucial part of Team Phantom and the Fenton Family. It seems like this change is going great, but time doesn't like being messed with.


**Time Doesn't Like Being Messed With**

Danny couldn't actually believe his luck. It actually worked! He was able to pull off going back in time and stopping the accident from even happening to Vlad. Danny could only hope this helped the situation he left, hoping Sam and Tucker were no longer infected with the same condition Vlad had.

He could already see the Fenton Ghost Portal nearing. Danny let out a sigh of relief. He was itching to get out of the Ghost Zone. He knew he typically didn't have a lot of good luck and with his recent success, it just made him more anxious to leave the Ghost Zone before something decided to attack him.

He flew as quickly as he could to the portal, familiar with the chill passing through him as he entered the human world.

He let out another sigh as his feet touched the floor of the lab. He was back.

"What are you doing here?" a voice said from across the room.

Danny jumped, looking up at the owner of the voice, a voice that did not belong to any member of his family, and was stunned to see it was Vlad Masters. But...not Vlad Masters…

Danny's face scrunched with confusion. Vlad's arms and hands were covered in grease, probably from the parts laid out at the work-station he was standing at, but that was not the only unusual thing...Vlad was wearing jeans. And a grey colored t-shirt, that of which had splotches of grease on it. The man, himself, also looked different, instead of the usual white-hair-in-ponytail look, his hair was black and cut short. His hair was mussed up, looking like it was ran through to the side a couple times, probably out of frustration with whatever he was working on. Instead of the usual goatee Danny was used to, Vlad had a full-on salt and pepper beard that somehow looked scruffier but well trimmed.

The man was looking at him with a confused, terrified expression. He then looked back at the stairs to the kitchen. "Quick, change back, your parents are upstairs," he said frantically, looking back at Danny with that same expression.

Danny was still stunned. He couldn't move. He had no idea what was happening. He couldn't even think. All he knew was something drastically went wrong.

Vlad charged toward Danny, causing the boy to flinch back. The man didn't seem to notice as he took hold of the halfa's shoulders. "Daniel, change back now, they will be here any minute."

Although he was still shocked, Danny was able to comply this time.

"Danny! I didn't see you come down here!" Danny jumped at his dad's voice booming from the stairs. He looked back hurriedly at Vlad to see the man smirking amusedly at his dad.

Jack gave Danny a closer look. His excitement ebbing into worry. "Are you okay, son? You look kinda pale."

Danny came to a start. He had to pull himself together. Like now. Even if the world as he knew it was coming to an end. "Yeah," he exclaimed.

Both men in front of him gave the other a look then looked back at Danny.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Danny repeated, starting to edge towards the stairs. He had to get out of here.

"Well, okay," his dad said, rubbing the back of his neck, looking unconvinced.

"I got to go," Danny said hastily, trying to make a break for the stairs only to be yanked back by his dad.

"Well, hold on, kiddo," Jack boomed, seeming to forget momentarily about Danny's odd behavior. "I was just coming down to tell you two dinner was ready."

"Yeah, but is it edible?" Vlad asked from behind Jack.

Danny stared at Vlad, not believing this was actually happening. The way that he and his dad were interacting...Vlad was actually being friendly with his dad and joking.

Despite the concern for his son's weird behavior, Jack sputtered, giving his friend a smile. "We can only hope."

Vlad laughed. "Well, you can go on ahead. Daniel and I will pick this up real quick and meet you guys up there."

"Sure thing, V-Man," Jack smiled.

Jack gave Danny another look, more confused than worried before he went up the stairs, leaving Danny alone with Vlad once again.

Once Jack cleared the room, Vlad quickly turned to Danny. He gave the teen a scrutinizing look. "Daniel, are you alright?"

Danny just realized he was looking at Vlad with his mouth hanging open. He quickly shut it and tried his best to reorganize his expression into something resembling normal, but he was pretty sure he failed at that task. He couldn't help it. This was just way too weird, even by his standards.

He, then, realized just how close the older man was standing to him. He quickly stepped back from the man, not used to Vlad being so close to him like this in such a familiar way. What the hell was going on?

The older man closed the distance between them again, putting his hands on Danny's shoulders, gripping them firmly. He gave the 14-year-old a searching looking. "Was it a ghost? Are you hurt?"

Danny blinked blankly at him. "Uh…what?" Danny blinked again. He didn't know how to handle this Vlad. A pissed off Vlad, sure, seen it a dozen times…but not this. The concern on the older man's face was so genuine, it was impossible to think it was just an act, especially since there was no one around to put a show on for.

"Are you hurt, Daniel?" Vlad urged, giving his body a once over as if he was looking for injuries.

"No?" Danny said, but it came out more as a question. "Why do you care?"

Vlad stopped dead, giving the boy a shocked look. "What do you mean by that? Of course I care! You know how I don't like you going into the Ghost Zone all on your own. You could be seriously hurt and there would be no way your friends, sister, or I would know. What were you even doing in there?" Vlad stopped then, giving Danny an exasperated look, his tone turning into a chiding one. "Please tell me you weren't in there just to improve your map of the Ghost Zone."

All Danny could do was blink at the man. Something was definitely wrong. The way Vlad was speaking as if he knew Danny well and somehow his friends and sister were in on it too. The way Vlad spoke with such familiarity of Danny's life, it was as if Vlad was his friend? That didn't sound right but it was the best Danny could think of.

This must have been caused by stopping the accident. By changing that one moment in time, he must have changed Vlad by putting him on a different path. He knew he was going to make Vlad fully human by stopping the accident but he didn't know there would be other just as big changes. But, how could changing one instance change the character of a person so profoundly? Despite the display of obvious concern for Danny's wellbeing, Danny still felt unsure of this new Vlad. He could just be playing the long game somehow. He could be exactly like his Vlad but just a better actor.

Whatever Vlad's intentions were, Danny was not going to fall for it, but he had to at least play along for now. Act like he was the Danny from this timeline at least, well he technically was the Danny from this timeline despite not knowing what was going on...or...maybe that made him not the Danny….Danny gave a frustrated huff, time-travelling was confusing.

"Care to clue me in on what's going on up there, Little Badger," Vlad said, still expecting an answer from the now only-halfa-in-existence, something Danny wasn't sure how he felt about yet.

"Uh," Danny said, scrambling desperately for an explanation. Then, it hit him, the last bit of what Vlad was saying. Well, hopefully, it didn't get him into too much trouble with the man, but it was the only thing he could lie about convincingly. "Yeah, I was in there...for the map." Danny tried to do his best to act like he was admitting to something and trying to be convincing enough.

Vlad was still tense. "So, no ghosts?"

"No ghosts attacked me," Danny said, choosing his words specifically so he was technically telling the truth.

The man visibly relaxed, then looked at the boy accusingly. "Then, why the hell did you scare the crap out of me like that?"

Danny blinked at the man. He never heard Vlad curse. "S-sorry," he sputtered. He was seriously starting to get whiplash from all of this.

Vlad smiled, mussing up Danny's hair affectionately. "Don't worry about it; as long as you're okay. Now, come on, help me put all this away, then we can go grab dinner with your folks." Vlad shuddered on his way back to the station, looking back at Danny. "Hopefully, we survive your mom's cooking this time."

Danny followed Vlad to the station. Despite himself, he had to smile at the truth in Vlad's comment. At least some things were the same in this timeline.

Danny helped Vlad quickly put away whatever the man was working on, which just looked like a bunch of metal parts with wires poking out. Parts of which Danny did not question the man about. The hesitance was probably from years of long-winded responses he always got from his parents when asked about their inventions.

The two quickly made their way up the stairs. Danny let Vlad lead the way. When they got to the kitchen, Danny was pleased to see it was the same as always. He was thankful that at least the Fenton household itself seemed to have not changed, something he couldn't say for the Fenton family dynamics.

Vlad went to take a seat next to his dad, clapping a hand on the man's shoulder, and whispered conspicuously, "So, what's the verdict?"

"We're having pizza," Jack whispered back with a grin.

"Oh thank god," Vlad muttered.

"I heard that, Vlad!" his mom exclaimed from across the table, giving the man a withering look.

Vlad laughed, not at all ashamed to be caught. "You can't blame me, Maddie, especially since it was only last night we were chased out of here by the ghost hot-dog apocalypse."

"It wasn't that bad," the woman said stubbornly.

"I still have the bites to prove you wrong," he challenged, grabbing two pieces of pizza and loading them on his plate.

"He has a point," Jack laughed, taking so much pizza from the box it was beginning to resemble a mountain on his plate.

"Traitor," Maddie muttered to her husband with accusation in her eyes.

"Hey," Vlad interjected. "You can't blame him, especially after last Thanksgiving."

Jack dipped his head back with a booming laugh. "At least we got a chance to try out our new bazooka," he added in between breaths.

"That was awesome," Vlad said as the two fist-bumped.

Maddie glared at the two. She was just about to say something when she finally took notice of Danny. He was still standing in the entry-way to the kitchen and was currently staring at his dad and Vlad as if they were from another planet.

"Danny, are you okay?"

Danny started, finally able to tear his eyes away from something he was sure was a hallucination. He knew that he was in another timeline, but this was just too much. Vlad just said awesome and fist-bumped his dad. No matter what timeline he was in, he was sure as hell that was something that was never going to happen.

He looked at his mom, all the amusement that was in her expression a minute ago was replaced with concern. "Honey?"

Oh right, he never answered her. "I'm fine," he hastily said. He quickly stole another glance at the other occupants of the table, they were looking at him too with just as much concern.

It was clear he had to get out of here. He obviously couldn't pull off being fine, at least not right now. He needed time to himself to just wrap his head around this new reality.

"I'm just not that hungry," he volunteered, trying to edge past the table.

"You aren't hungry?" his mom repeated, perplexed.

He knew that was probably the wrong lie to choose. He never once in his life was not hungry, but as of right now, he really wasn't concerned about his stomach. "Yeah," he lied. "I have to go meet up with Sam and Tuck anyway. We'll get something later." He was already heading to the front door, trying to escape as quickly as possible.

"Danny, it's cold ou—

"I'll see you guys later!" he hollered over his shoulder before slamming the door behind him, taking off in a dead sprint.

Once he cleared a block, he quickly ducked into an alley, changing into his ghost form and jumping into the air in one fluid motion.

He flew quickly through the sky, not really paying attention on where he was going, his mind was solely on what just happened.

Everything he knew was suddenly just flipped around on him. The world as he knew it was definitely not the same. Somehow changing the accident to never happening made it so Vlad took on a permanent new role in his life, a role that was much more integrated than what the halfa was used to.

He knew he would change Vlad's present, but he thought the man would be the exact same, just full human and powerless. But, this Vlad...this Vlad was somebody almost entirely different, that much was evident. It was all still crazy.

Vlad still knew he was half ghost, but he was apparently helping him along with his friends and sister.

Vlad was also friends with his mom and dad and invented with them.

Vlad was wearing freaking jeans. That was just as crazy as the rest.

What did he do? What _else_ has changed?

Danny started breathing heavily, all of the possibilities starting to overwhelm him.

Did everything in his life change? What about Sam and Tucker, did they know everything?….

Sam and Tucker...

Oh crap, he completely forgot to check on them. The same pit of dread he felt before the time-jump made itself known in his stomach again. Last time he saw them, they were practically on their deathbeds in a quarantined section of the lab.

He changed his flight quickly in the direction to Sam's house, deciding to check on her first since it was the closest to where he was at.

Luckily he didn't have to make two separate trips, he found both Sam and Tucker in Sam's bedroom, playing Doomed on her computer.

He made himself visible. He was about to greet them, but something stopped him. They looked normal, but has anything else changed. He was beginning to question if this was a good idea to begin with.

But, he needed to know. They didn't look infected.

He was beginning to feel some of the weight lift off his shoulders, weight he didn't even know was there until it was gone. Even though changing the past changed things in the present, if his friends were okay, it was worth it.

Sam was the first to see him. He was still outside her window, still stuck in the dilemma of what was the right move. A dilemma that was solved for him when she opened her window, letting him enter the room. Hopefully, his friendship with the two didn't change as drastically as back home.

She smiled at him but looked confused. "Hey, Danny, what are you doing here?"

Tucker looked up then, giving Danny the same confused smile as Sam.

"You guys are okay," Danny nearly exclaimed with relief, not able to help himself. Sam and Tucker looked healthy and normal. It was like it was hitting him for the first time. Even though he was sure stopping the accident would fix whatever Vlad infected them with in the other timeline, part of him was still worried. Besides, it was something completely different actually seeing them healthy and well.

Sam gave him a look. "Of course we're okay."

Tucker gave Danny a more scrutinizing look from his chair at Sam's desk. "Yeah, but are you okay? You look a bit off."

Danny shook his head quickly. "I'm fine."

"Did you end patrol early?" Sam asked. She looked out the window. "Where's Vlad?"

"Vlad?" Danny questioned.

"This was his night to patrol with you," she said, looking back at the halfa.

"Vlad patrols with me?" Was there any aspect of his life the man was not involved in? Danny was becoming more and more convinced changing that one moment in time changed everything in his own life. And, despite the overwhelming evidence, it was still something that was hard him to grasp.

"Yes," Sam answered in a tone that stressed this was something that he should have known.

She stepped closer to him, staring at him speculatively. "Are you sure you are okay?"

"Yes," Danny said, starting to get annoyed everybody kept asking him this.

His ghost sense suddenly went off as a chill overtook him. Danny shuddered slightly from the familiar cold.

"I have to go," he said quickly, already heading towards the window. For the first time in his life, he was actually glad for the interruption.

"Do you need our help?" Tucker volunteered, already making a move to get up.

Danny shook his head. "No, I'm good."

Before they could push any further, Danny quickly left. It was probably rude, but he would make it up to them later. Right now, he needed to focus on whatever ghost was setting off his ghost sense, something that would have been impossible if the two came along because right now, they served as a constant reminder of everything that changed.

* * *

His ghost sense lead him to the park.

It was as deserted as ever, probably because it was the middle of the night, and there was no sign of a ghost anywhere. His ghost sense still wasn't an exact science but usually the cold feeling tended to get worse the closer he was to the ghost. Right now, it felt like he swallowed a block of ice.

Danny suppressed another shiver, knowing it would go away in a minute. He let his feet touch the ground, walking a couple steps into a clearing. He looked around him, still guarded, wondering if his ghost sense was off. Maybe the time-jump did something. It wouldn't be the first thing that got messed up from it.

There was a crack. Danny whirled around looking for the cause.

That was all he could do before it happened.

Suddenly, what looked like high-tech guns shot from the ground, encircling him. They were already sparking to life, and they all fired on him at once.

Danny let out a scream as the ecto-beams made contact, causing a blinding pain throughout his body.

All Danny saw was white as his body felt like it was being ripped apart.

Despite the blinding pain, he had to try to get out of this before real damage was done. He managed to squint his eyes open, focusing on one of the guns. Maybe if he took one out, he could disrupt the rest.

With a huff, Danny aimed a shaking hand at one of the guns and fired an ectoblast of his own.

Luckily, the shot hit its target, damaging the gun, but only the damaged gun's beam stopped. The rest continued their onslaught. Of course.

With another scream, Danny dove at the suddenly open path he created, away from the beams' onslaught. He managed to put some flight into his dive, getting farther away from the assault. He collapsed on the ground, covered in dirt and grass from the hard fall. He rolled over on his back, heaving from the pain. He let out a moan.

But, he didn't have much time to collect himself because a huge figure glinted in the moonlight, dropping down on top of him. With a yelp, he made his body move before whatever ghost it was could make contact, ducking away to the side of the ghost to face him head on.

Danny's eyes widened, instantly recognizing the both familiar and not-so familiar ghost. "SkulkTech?"

The joined ghosts glared at him. They looked the exact same from when Danny faced them the first time, but this wasn't the future? How were they already joined?

"How?" Danny stared at them, feeling truly afraid for the first time. He wasn't sure if the ghosts were solely the cause or what they symbolized...if they were joined, then, what else was in this timeline that was from his alternative dark future.

Despite trying to repress it, Danny shivered at the one possibility that came to mind, but quickly pushed it to the side. He couldn't worry about that now. He had to focus. He was barely able to beat SkulkTech the first time around, and even though he knew both ghosts separately, apparently, they had some new tricks up their sleeve.

"You look scared, Welp," it was Skulker's voice. Skulker's flaming head was smiling viciously at him.

"Not so cocky, now, child," Technus said, his head floating in the center console of their body. Despite the frightening turn of events, Danny couldn't help but notice the gross factor in that.

"You two joined," Danny said, taking a step back, trying to buy time.

"This is going to be fun," Skulker said, probably sensing the fear Danny couldn't suppress. The ghosts' body flung out its arms, activating twin long blades extending from each arm.

Danny looked warily at the blades.

With a battle cry, the ghosts lunged at him. Danny quickly put up a shield, stopping the attack, but the impact of the blades on his shield made him wince.

Danny quickly lowered the shield, shooting an ectoblast at the ghosts, but it didn't make contact. The ghosts disappeared only to reappear behind Danny with a blade coming down on him. Danny gasped, lunging out of the way, but he still felt the searing pain of the blade slicing down his back.

Danny put distance between him and the ghosts, wincing. He stumbled forward but was able to catch himself with his hands before he face-planted.

He felt the cold flow of ectoplasm already running down his back. It was radiating, the pain dominating the pain the rest of his body was already in from the previous attack.

He glared up at the ghosts.

"I'm so done with this day," Danny growled, getting up slowly from the ground, his body straining into standing position. He finally reached his breaking point of the day. Between everything in his life suddenly and drastically changing and this, a freaking ghost fight that was severely kicking his ass. Now, he was angry as hell.

Then, he had a crazy idea, either out of desperation or anger, probably both, but it would be pretty ironic to use the Ghost Wail, especially on these two. Something learned from the future to face his future enemies.

But, he knew what the attack would do to him. He barely faired any better than his enemies after the wail.

What the hell. He had nothing to lose. It was already a crappy day.

He took a deep breath. The ghosts were still smiling as they stalked toward him. Apparently, they were unaware of what he was about to do. Good.

After the long intake of air, he released the wail.

The sonic waves destroyed everything in its path, trees were being ripped from the ground and thrown by the force, the ground rumbled under his feet, and SkulkTech, the ghosts were being torn apart, both letting out screams as their armor broke and disintegrated. By the time Danny finished, there was nothing left but little hubbles of ecto-energy, he didn't have the energy to look close enough, but was sure they were the unconscious forms of the two ghosts in whatever forms they had to take in order to fuse into one body.

His ghost form quickly slipped away without his permission. He began to fall forward, too weak to keep himself upright any longer, when all of the sudden strong hands grabbed him, yanking him upright once more. "I've got you."

He looked up to see it was Vlad, his expression filled with worry.

The man held him upright, taking one of his arms and wrapping it over his shoulder so he could support most of Danny's weight, something Danny's shaking knees were grateful for.

"Hold on one second," the man said, awkwardly grabbing at something hanging from a strap on his shoulder. It was a Fenton thermos.

He managed to uncap it and suck up the destroyed parts of the merged ghosts into a bright swirling vortex.

He quickly put the thermos back into its dependent position from the strap, using his hand to steady Danny once more.

"Come on, let's get to my car."

Danny grunted in agreement, it was the best he could do. Everything was hurting and the weak fog that normally took over him whenever he did the wail was already creeping in on top of all the injuries from the fight.

At a snail's pace, the two finally made it to a …..wow...he didn't even know if it could be described as a car. It looked like the kind of car he only saw in magazines. Danny had to admit, it was pretty impressive. Danny side-eyed Vlad, well at least some things didn't change; for one thing, the man still had expensive taste.

Although Danny had to amend that mentally because the man was still in his grease-stained t-shirt and jeans.

With the help of Vlad, Danny was able to get in the passenger seat. He winced in pain as his back hit the seat. He heard a strained "sorry" from Vlad as the man's hands fluttered over Danny, trying to help him into a comfortable position.

"I'm okay," Danny barely said, his back was still radiating with pain, he could feel a new cold wetness drip down it. He knew it was blood. "Sorry about the seats," he said a bit deliriously. It was a nice car, too nice to ruin. Practically a crime.

Vlad's eyes widened. "I'm not worried about the damn seats."

The man looked like he wanted to say more but seemed to have thought against it, instead he shut the door and all but ran to the driver's side.

The drive was silent with neither one of them speaking. The only sound was Danny's rasping breaths, which seemed to only be adding to the man's tension in his shoulders as he drove like a bat out of hell, whipping in and out of lanes.

They finally pulled up to what looked like a townhouse.

"Where are we?"

Vlad shot Danny another very worried look. "My place." Oh. Another thing Danny was sure he should have known.

"Oh."

Vlad was out of the car and pulling his own door open before Danny could offer more of an explanation.

"Come on, we need to get you inside before anybody sees," Vlad said, reaching down to help Danny out of the car. "I'll help you, grab my shoulder," the man instructed.

Danny complied, using his strength to pull himself out. Despite the pain, Danny was able to be silent, but the effort left him dizzy and breathing heavily as the man all but dragged him to the side door.

"We're almost there," Vlad said, grabbing at his keys and plunging one into the door. His hand was shaking as he turned the key and opened the door.

Vlad pulled Danny through a kitchen, then the living room, which was sparse with limited furniture and a huge TV dominating most of the room. Weird, he was expecting a lot of gold and green, but the room was merely decorated in neutral colors, nothing really pulling the eye one way or the other. "Do you think you can go up the stairs."

Danny dragged his eyes away from the room to the stairs, which were descending near the front of the house, the base spilling into the small foyer that opened up to the living room.

He nodded. They didn't look too bad. It was something Danny had to do before.

"We will go slow," Vlad promised.

The pair took one step at a time, and despite the pace, Danny was heaving when they reached the top. Luckily, they didn't have much farther to go. They went into the first room on the right.

Vlad settled him into a sitting position near the head of the bed that was in the room.

"Let me get the first aid kit from the bathroom," Vlad said, leaning down and gripping the boy's shoulder to get Danny to focus on him. "Please try not to fall asleep, okay? Not until I look at you."

"Okay," Danny agreed, knowing that request would take some effort.

The man left the room, leaving the door wide-open.

Danny leaned sideways, letting his head rest against the wooden bedframe. He had a throbbing headache that just seemed to be getting worse. He tried to just breathe through the pain, hoping his healing would help it soon.

Even though he was exhausted, he took the free moment to look at the bedroom he was in.

From the look of the size, he knew it must have been the spare room of the house. There wasn't much; there was a simple dark wooden chest of drawers in a corner with a TV on top and a matching nightstand on the side of the bed. The room was decorated in various NASA posters and a couple of aircraft and spaceshift models were displayed on a floating shelf on one of the walls. There was a basketball hoop on the closet door and a red sweatshirt hanging by its hood from the door-knob. The comforter underneath him was a simple shade of dark blue….

It looked like somebody's room.

He eyed the NASA posters and the spaceship models, recognizing them easily.

He realized he must have stayed here. Him. Danny Fenton has a room at Vlad Master's house. He should have been shocked, but after the day he had, he was starting to feel numb to the endless surprises.

Vlad returned to the room, then, holding a huge kit with a couple things piled on top.

Danny wanted to ask the man if this was his room, if what he thought was true, but he didn't know how without it causing even more suspicion.

Vlad put all the supplies on the bed next to Danny, then looked at him. He looked stressed. That was something Danny never saw the man display. It softened his features in a strange way. Made him almost look vulnerable.

The man knelt so they were almost eye level. "Danny," he said, grabbing the halfa's attention. "Are you okay?"

He was pretty sure he didn't look okay, but chose to offer the man some sort of explanation anyway to prevent him from worrying even more. "Yeah," Danny breathed, trying to keep his voice leveled. "Just really tired. And my back."

Danny was covered in bruises and shallow cuts for the most part, but he knew SkulkTech must have messed up his back badly. It was throbbing like crazy, to the point where even the feather-light pressure of his shirt was a nuisance. He could also feel the continuous flow of blood coming from it still.

Vlad pressed his lips together in a thin line, his eyes stormy. He sat down next to Danny, helping turn him so that his back was facing the man.

"I have to get this shirt off," the man offered before doing so with a pair of scissors. Danny didn't really care, considering his shirt was probably ruined from all the blood. Besides, it was better than trying to slip out of the thing, something he knew would not feel great.

"Shit, this is going to need stitches." Vlad didn't tell him how bad it looked but Danny could feel how bad it was, it felt deep. Deep enough to where he was trying to avoid any type of movement.

Danny heard Vlad opening multiple packages behind him.

"I'm going to clean this, okay?" the man warned.

"Okay," Danny answered, getting ready for the sting of the antiseptic. He braced his hands on the bed.

The man was quick, seeming practiced at this. It didn't take long until Danny was feeling the familiar pain of his skin being pulled back together by a needle and sutures.

"I know this is not really necessary considering you heal pretty quickly, but this helps and luckily your skin doesn't scar like ours do." He could tell the man was just trying to make conversation, to dispel the silence in the room.

It was a bit strange and kinda uneasy to hear Vlad speaking in that way, like he was different from Danny, full human different. It was not too long ago that Vlad was in the same boat as him.

Despite the distinction, Vlad seemed to still know a lot about halfas, well at least as much as Danny knew. What he said were all things Danny knew and was pretty sure the other Danny knew. It was true, stitches weren't exactly needed, but it did help lessen blood loss and infection and made it easier for him to heal with one step already being done. To his friends and his surprise, once the stitches came out, his own skin healed afterwards in a way where it was smooth and barely noticeable that he was ever hurt to begin with. The only reasoning they could come to was being an added bonus of his bizarrely fast healing factor.

"What was that attack you did? I've never seen that before," Vlad asked. He knew what the man was trying to do, trying to get his mind off the pain of the needle going in and out of his skin.

Danny figured this timeline's Danny must have not known how to do the Ghostly Wail yet. "I just did it I guess."

"Must be a new power," Vlad said, coming to his own conclusion, something Danny was thankful for. "Some powerful one too," Vlad gave an impressed whistle. "You took out almost half the park."

Danny winced at that. He was trying to be careful and only used the attack at half-force. He was still trying to learn how to adjust the intensity of it. He didn't want to destroy the city every time he tried to use it, but it seemed that was what the attack resulted in every time he tried. "Scary, isn't it," Danny said, more to himself than to the man. There was a reason it was used as a last ditch effort.

"Not scary," Vlad said firmly, seeming to pick up on the teenager's dejected tone. "Just another thing we will train on together. Just like we did with your ice powers."

"Although," Vlad said, the tugging at his skin stopped as Danny heard the snip of scissors. A bandage was being placed on his back, "having the Far Frozen's help on that one was much appreciated."

Danny hmmed, too tired to really respond.

He heard the crumpling of supplied. Danny peered back to see Vlad picking up everything he brought in.

"Can I help?" Danny asked, starting to feel awkward.

"Nope," the man said, amused but firm in his answer. "But you can put these on."

The man threw a pair of sweatpants on his lap. The boy gave him a quizzical look.

"Your jeans," the man said, catching the look, "they have blood all over the waistline." For a second Vlad looked uncomfortable with what he just said, but whatever the expression that crossed his face was, completely disappeared.

"Think you can manage?"

"Yeah." Danny was starting to feel a little better. Still felt like crap, but he had the bit of energy necessary for the task.

The man nodded, then headed towards. "Put those on; I'll be right back."

Danny looked at the sweatpants. Out of curiosity, he looked at the tag on the waistline.

They were his size.

He sighed. This was going to take some getting used to.

Very stiffly, he managed to pull off his own pants and put the sweats on. Admittedly, he did let out a string of curses during the process, but no one was around to hear, so he figured it didn't count.

He settled again on the bed, his hand braced on the nightstand, and the other gripping his bruised torso.

He heard a knock at the opened door, signaling Vlad was back. He gave Danny's position a measured look. "I called your parents to tell them you are staying here the night," he said, sitting next to Danny. He gave Danny a worried look. "How much pain are you in?"

"It's okay," Danny said, trying to straighten a little bit but winced instead.

Vlad pressed his lips together, displeased. "I wish there was more I can do, but your metabolism is too fast for pain medicine," the man looked down, frustration in his face. "I'm still working on that."

Danny looked at Vlad then. "Working on what?"

Vlad blushed lightly, this was obviously something he didn't mean to let slip. He rubbed the back of his head abstinently. "Working on something, like pain medicine, that can actually help you."

He couldn't believe it. Not only was Vlad actually helping him with ghost stuff but he was inventing for him too. Something that wouldn't benefit him at all, but solely benefit Danny. His Vlad, even if he wasn't evil, wouldn't have been that selfless. For the first time, Danny was beginning to truly think this Vlad was different.

Vlad must have taken Danny's look for something else because he quickly spoke again. "I know you said not to worry about it, that there were more important things," Vlad laughed, "like sleep. But, if there is something I can do to help, I want to."

"Thanks," Danny said quietly. "For the help," Danny clarified further. Despite all the strangeness, he at least had to be grateful to the man, especially since he no longer thought this was at all a well-thought-out ruse.

Vlad smiled, giving Danny's shoulder a squeeze. "Get some sleep. If you need anything, wake me." He gave Danny a stern look. "And I mean that."

All Danny could do was nod, sliding under the covers as the man left the room, shutting the door behind him.

Danny stared at the ceiling, already feeling the exhaustion take hold of him.

The realization of where he was took hold of him as well. It didn't escape him that he was sleeping under the roof of his once-archenemy. Nor did it escape him that Vlad was covering for him with his parents. He never thought this would be the result of stopping the accident, and he was starting to think he could come to not mind it.

However, despite all the good that came out of his time-traveling escapade, he still felt uneasy about it all. But, he couldn't really do anything about it at this moment, so he let his exhaustion from the fight finally take him away into sleep, the last thing on his mind was the hope that tomorrow would be somewhat normal.

* * *

The following day was a shitty day.

Despite Vlad's protests, Danny went to school. The man was worried about his injuries, but unbeknownst to Vlad, this Danny did that kind of thing all the time. This Danny did not have anybody to cover like Vlad could, something Danny was a bit jealous about even though it was stupid to feel jealous because it was himself after all. Again, Danny cursed the frustrating complications of time-traveling.

From tons of past experiences, he knew going to school would suck, but he just wanted to do something normal. To do something familiar. And to both Danny's pleasure and displeasure, the day pretty much rolled out how any day would back from his old timeline. Dash gave him a hard time, ghosts disrupted the school-day periodically making Danny late to both english and history and missing lunch entirely, and all the while, his injuries made him move stiffly, sending shots of pain whenever he forgot about them.

It was a normal, frustrating day and on top of it all, he still had a lot to think about, mainly about what he did and how it changed so much, seemingly for the better but it still made him feel uneasy. Danny felt like part of his life was a complete mystery to himself. Like he was playing a game and knew all the pieces and motives but forgot the rules. It was overwhelming and he still didn't know how to go about it. It didn't help much that he felt like an imposter in his own life. It wasn't the first time he wondered if he was anything like the Danny of this timeline. If he was fooling anybody. From the frequently exchanged worried glances of his friends throughout the day, he wasn't sure he was.

That was why he was sitting here. Alone. He was sitting on the ledge of the clock tower, the highest point of the city. He waited til it was dark so nobody could see him. Wasn't much of a wait since most of the evening was filled with constant ghost attacks. It was practically dark by the time he finished rounding them all up.

For the first time since the moment he got his powers, he felt lost.

This life, if he accepted it, was pretty much everything he could have wanted, even what he didn't think to want. And, Danny could picture himself accepting all of this. It would be so easy.

It would be easy to accept Vlad as friend and somebody who could help him through all of this, cover for him with his parents, help him with the ghosts, even offer words of wisdom from time to time. Danny could see it. It would be easy to accept his friends were less stressed because Vlad was helping with the load of ghost patrols or that Jazz would be less worried about her brother because Vlad was an adult who was pretty capable of taking care of most things, something that was proven last night. And, it would be so easy to accept his parents, especially his dad, finally having their friend, Vlad, back, rather than a secret enemy out to destroy their marriage.

It would be so easy.

So, why was he still feeling this way. Like he did something wrong. Like this wasn't right.

Danny let out a frustrated growl, letting his head drop in hands, gripping it tightly. This was a mess.

"I thought you would be up here," a voice said from behind. Danny's head shot up at the voice. He recognized it instantly. It was Vlad.

He looked wearily back to see the man smiling with his hand behind his back. He was holding something. For a second, Danny thought it was an ecto-gun or some kind of insidious invention to use on him, but the halfa quickly dismissed the thought. He had to remind himself this was a different Vlad. Danny sighed, looking back at the skyline. "How did you know?"

"You always come here when you have a bad day."

Danny looked to the man as he walked up to the ledge where the boy was sitting. Even though he knew this was a different Vlad, it was still difficult to have his back to him. Old habits died hard.

The man smirked, finally showing Danny what he was hiding behind his back. A big grease-stained bag labeled with the signature Nasty Burger logo.

For the first time today, Danny smiled.

Vlad plopped beside the boy, putting the bag in between them. He dug through it, handing Danny a wrapped burger and taking one for himself. "The fries are in the bag, take as much as you want," he said, settling himself on the ledge.

Danny eyed Vlad. He knew the man was human now. Why was he choosing to sit on the ledge with him? Out of the two, Danny was the only one that could fly.

Vlad seemed to know what he was thinking. He chuckled. "I've never been that scared of heights. Besides, you'd catch me." He smiled and mussed Danny's hair affectionately before taking a huge bite of his burger.

Again, Danny was struck with how bizarre all of this was. Vlad…trusting him and not only that but this Vlad was so different from his. There was a genuineness in this Vlad that his never had.

"You've been giving me that look a lot lately," Vlad said, side-eyeing Danny while taking another bite.

Danny looked down at his burger, embarrassed. Of course, he would notice. This Vlad seemed to be just as perceptive and smart as the other.

That was what made him uneasy. There were still similarities among the huge differences between the two Vlads, but the most confusing part of all of this was Danny just couldn't figure out if those huge differences meant something, meant that Danny could fully trust this Vlad.

Needing something to do, Danny began to unwrap part of his burger carefully, keeping his eyes glued on it.

"You've been distant lately too," Vlad said, not looking at Danny but at the skyline of Amity. He didn't look mad, just like he was stating a fact. "Ever since you came out of that portal yesterday."

Danny sighed. He knew this was probably going to happen eventually. But, he just didn't know what to do. Hell, he didn't know what he was doing at all lately, not in this life.

Seeing Danny's hesitance to say anything, the man continued. "Daniel, whatever happened, you know you can trust me. I'm on your side. And, I'm worried about you. Sam and Tucker are worried about you as well. You don't have to face whatever you are facing alone."

Danny stopped fussing with the burger. His eyes widening. His Vlad never once said Sam and Tucker's name. Never. And, this Vlad said it so casually…he knew this was a small difference, but somehow, knowing Sam and Tucker trusted Vlad, well, it settled him a little more around the man. Settled him enough to want to tell the man the truth for the first time, something he didn't even want to do with Sam and Tucker.

"I'm not your Danny," the boy barely said, still not making eye contact with the man. He didn't want to see his reaction.

"What do you mean?" Vlad simply asked.

"I'm…from a different time," Danny said, trying to figure out how to explain all of this in a believable way. He snuck a glance at the man, then, to see he was patiently waiting for him to explain more. The boy took a breath. It was now or never.

"I mean I am Danny, Danny Fenton, Phantom, whatever, but I'm not exactly from here. And, you're not you from the time I come from."

The man raised an eyebrow at this. "Time traveling?"

"Yeah, you know, Clockwork," Danny answered. He knew the man knew everything about him, it only made sense he would know who Clockwork was as well.

"Uh, no," Vlad said, looking very confused.

Then, it dawned on him. Of course Vlad wouldn't know him. Danny first met Clockwork in order to change his future and defeat his evil self, the evil self that was a combination of both Phantom and Plasmius…no Plasmius, no Dan, no Clockwork to meet. This Danny would never have encountered that future. For some reason, Danny was not relieved by this, instead, worried. He would have never gotten the chance to learn probably one of the most powerful lessons in his life. A lesson that changed him for the better. Where would he have been if that never happened to him? Would he still be the hero he was, the kind who knew how his actions could affect so many?

"Daniel?"

Danny looked up. Vlad was still looking at him with a confused expression but now it was tinged with worry.

"You don't know him," he said. "He's the ghost of time. One of the Ancients."

Danny put his burger to the side with a frustrated growl and put his face in his hands, resting his elbows on his thighs. He rubbed circles into the side of his head. "This is just too complicated. I don't know how to explain this. I don't know what has happened and what hasn't."

A hand was suddenly on his shoulder, the owner giving a tentative squeeze. Danny's eyes widened at the touch.

Danny looked up then, to see Vlad giving him an uneasy smile. "How about you start from the beginning? How all of this started."

Danny gave the man a long look. "Are you sure you want to know? You probably won't like what you're about to hear."

"I want to know," the man said without a moment of hesitation. His tone firm and eyes set in a steady gaze.

Starting with a long-drawn breath, Danny launched into his time-traveling escapade, telling Vlad everything, about how his Vlad, his half-ghost enemy, poisoned Sam and Tucker for the cure to his own disease to how he went back in time to stop the accident from happening to Vlad in the first place. When Danny, finally finished, the man was speechless for a long moment, seeming to take everything Danny had said in. Danny wasn't really that surprised he needed a minute. It was a lot to take in.

But, Danny owed it to this Vlad to give him that minute. So, he waited patiently, looking at the night sky.

"Well," Vlad breathed, still looking a bit stunned but his color was returning from the paleness it took on during Danny's explanation. "No wonder you were scared shitless when you saw me."

Danny blinked at the man, then busted out laughing. He really couldn't help it despite the serious moment. Soon he heard the man joining in with his own laugh.

When both their laughs fizzled to periodic chuckles, the man spoke again.

"But all joking aside," Vlad said. "Daniel, I don't know what you've been through, especially all that the other me did to you, but I'm telling you, I'm nothing like that. I would never hurt you. I can't even imagine doing so. You are the closest thing to a son that I ever had. And, I'm here to help you. You can trust me." The man was looking at him urgently, as if he was trying hard to convince him. Somehow, Danny could see that Vlad was telling the truth. There was nothing the man did in the past 48 hours to make him think otherwise. Every time he needed help, Vlad was there. He had to accept this timeline for what it was, he had to accept this Vlad was different and on his side.

"I know I can." Danny affirmed.

The man smiled.

Unfortunately, like everything in his life, the tender moment between the two didn't last and was suddenly interrupted by a large crack of lightening and rumbling beneath them.

Both looked up at the sky with a jerk, the two's mouths dropping open at the sight.

Vlad was the first to come to his senses enough to speak. "What _is_ that?"

Danny couldn't tear his eyes away from it to answer. What looked like a huge portal was swirling ominously in the sky directly above the center of the city. Its large size was not the only thing different from an average portal. Its blue energy was swirling rapidly, creating huge whirl winds and lightning was crackling all around it, some making contact with the earth. It looked like it was ripping a hole into the sky and sucking whatever it could in it.

It didn't look neither natural nor supernatural, but in a whole league of its own. And, that's what was giving Danny a very bad feeling.

"Whatever it is," Danny finally managed to say, "doesn't look good."

The man got up from the ledge, giving the strange portal a wary glance before looking at Danny. He stuck his hand out towards Danny. "Come on, we better go."

"Where are we going?" Danny asked, trying to fathom what kind of plan the man had. It wasn't like they could fight a portal. He took Vlad's hand, letting the man hoist him up.

"To the lab," Vlad said. "We have to figure out what exactly we are dealing with. Think you can fly us back? You'll be faster than my car."

Danny stared blankly at the man.

The man smirked, probably guessing what stumped Danny. "I still can't fly despite what your other timeline's Vlad can do."

"Yeah," Danny blushed in embarrassment at his goof. He knew that. All of this was still taking a while to get used to, but-it was weird to say this-Vlad now knowing was beginning to help.

Pushing away his momentary slip-up, Danny gripped the man and with a mumbled 'hold on,' they took off for his parents lab.

* * *

"Where's Mom and Dad," Danny said as the man typed furiously on one of the consoles. The minute they got to the lab, the man made a bee-line for the center console and was typing ever since then.

"Knowing them," Vlad stopped momentarily, glaring at something on the screen, "probably out there trying to stop whatever is happening."

"Any clue yet on what it is?" Danny asked, he peered up at the screen but couldn't make rhyme or reason what all the figures displayed meant. It looked like a bunch of gibberish to him.

"It's some kind of destabilization, ripping a hole into our dimension," Vlad said, his eyes wide as he stared at the screen. "I've never seen anything like this. It's nothing like any portal I've seen."

Those words he said resonated with Danny. Not like any other portal they've seen. Danny looked at the TV, which was displaying the disaster that was the portal. It looked familiar.

Danny looked harder, but it didn't take long to figure out where he's seen it or at least something like it.

"Vlad, I did this," Danny said, feeling a deep sense of dread. The portal looked like the time portals Clockwork opened. The only difference was this one looked way more sinister. It was beginning to rip the tops of the city's infrastructure off and swallowing them whole into its swirling abyss.

"What?" The man gave a confused look to the teen.

"When I messed with time," Danny explained. "I must have made the destabilization."

"Is there any way you can go back to this Clockwork ghost? To fix this."

"Yeah," Danny breathed. Looking at the portal, coming to the awful realization of what he had to do.

He had to stop himself from going back, from stopping the accident. He had to go back and make sure everything happened the way it was supposed to happen, Vlad's accident and all.

The pit of Danny's stomach dropped. He felt an immediate sense of loss. He was going to lose this timeline's Vlad.

"Daniel?"

Danny could see the worry in the man's expression. He knew whatever expression he had on his face that it must have been worrying the man.

"I have to go back," Danny said, not able to help the dread seeping in his voice. "I have to let it happen."

"The accident," Vlad said, instantly understanding. The man looked sad as he spoke the two words, knowing fully well what it meant for him, for his future. That he would cease to exist as he did now.

But, the older man's sadness soon evolved into unwavering resoluteness. "You have to do it, to save everybody."

"But, if I do this. It means-"

"This is more important," Vlad said firmly, but Danny could still see the pain in his face. "Sometimes, we have to do what is right and good for others, even though it means hurting yourself." The way he said that made Danny think these were words from experience.

"Just, please, remember me how I am now, not when you go back."

Danny could feel his throat tightening as he blinked away tears that were starting to blur his vision. All he could manage was a nod.

Danny looked back at the portal. The glow feeling more ominous than ever before. He looked back at the man in front of him. He was a lot like his Vlad, but different…this would have been Vlad if he was given the chance to grow. This was what it could have been. His dad would have had his best friend. His mom would have had another partner to endure his dad's crazy ideas. But, most importantly, Vlad would have had a life like the one he always wanted. And, he was going to take it all away.

"I'm sorry," Danny barely said, looking down.

Before he knew it, he was gripped in a tight hug from the man. Danny hugged him back with just as much strength, wishing there was another way.

All too soon, Vlad released him, his gaze hard steel, but it soon broke under his smile. "Go save the day, Little Badger."

Danny nodded, not able to speak. He walked to the portal. Only looking back once before he left. But, he knew he would remember what he saw for the rest of his life. He saw a man standing tall with nothing but trust and pride in his eyes. It was a sight of something good to the world that could have been. And, Danny was going to destroy it.

* * *

Danny was flying back to the Fenton Portal. It worked. Clockwork let him go back to the past to fix his mistake, letting the accident happen to Vlad.

He barely could speak to Clockwork when he got back, for the first time questioning the ghost's motives in all of this… He knew this would happen, he knew how this would end. So why did he let all of this happen? Was this just another lesson? Danny didn't have the energy to bring it up with the ghost. He just wanted to leave, drained from the pain of losing the alternate time-line Vlad, the Vlad that should have always been his.

Danny sighed, looking to the portal warily as it came closer into view. The only luck that came out of this was seeing what exactly his dad poured into the filter for the prototype portal. Diet cola. Of all things. At least he could help cure his friends. Danny could barely muster the relief he should be feeling through the dark haze he was in.

Danny released another dejected sigh as his feet touched the lab floor. He quickly turned human.

He looked at the quarantine tarp on the far side of the lab, where his parents, friends, and Vlad surely would be.

His expression turned stormy for a minute, letting all of the resentment and sadness he was feeling take hold of him. He would only give the emotions a minute. One minute to feel the loss. One minute to feel the pain. But, all too soon, that minute passed, and he tucked those feelings away. Putting them away because right now, he had a job to do and those feelings would only get in the way of that.

Taking a breath and slowly releasing it. He straightened, looking at the tarp with a steely gaze.

It was time to save the day.


End file.
